New dig under way

Tuesday

Jan 8, 2013 at 12:01 AM

SACRAMENTO - The FBI began a painstaking process Monday to dig up an old Linden well where agents believe they may recover more remains of murder victims buried there years ago by killers Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog.

Scott Smith

SACRAMENTO - The FBI began a painstaking process Monday to dig up an old Linden well where agents believe they may recover more remains of murder victims buried there years ago by killers Wesley Shermantine and Loren Herzog.

This resumes work in the same rolling pastures of eastern San Joaquin County where investigators almost one year ago found more than three victims at the bottom of another well in the same pasturelands on Flood Road.

Herbert Brown, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Sacramento office, said his team is now leading the recovery effort at the request of San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore, whose critics said he mishandled the first operation.

The FBI has taken command of this recovery effort, but the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office remains in the lead of the overarching investigation.

The FBI's dig started with heavy equipment brought in Monday morning, but agents said the work will be done largely by hand, carefully removing about 5 feet of soil each day until the teams reach bottom at a depth of about 50 feet.

Work could take between two to three weeks on the well long since filled in with dirt, car parts, old appliances and possibly human remains, Brown said in a Sacramento news conference.

"There is no certainty," Brown said. "We hope we find remains. We also may not."

Shermantine and Herzog were arrested in 1999, ending a 15-year methamphetamine-fueled killing spree. The duo is said to have killed about 19 together or as a team.

At trial, Shermantine was convicted of four murders and sentenced to death row. Herzog's conviction on three of the murders was overturned, and in January 2012, he committed suicide while on parole.

The search for victims began more than one year ago, when Shermantine sent letters with details of the burial places to The Record and then Leonard Padilla, a Sacramento bounty hunter, who offered Shermantine $33,000 if the information proved true.

The well excavated last year contained the remains of JoAnn Hobson, a 16-year-old who disappeared in 1985, and 19-year-old Kimberly Billy, a 1984 missing-persons case. A third unidentified woman and a fetus were also recovered.

Within the same week, investigators found two victims Shermantine buried in Calaveras County: Chevelle "Chevy" Wheeler, missing since 1985, and 25-year-old Cyndi Vanderheiden, who was murdered in 1998.

Sheriff Moore and his deputies last year drew criticism for using heavy earth-moving equipment to excavate the well, which critics said shattered the bones into small pieces while bringing them to the surface.

Others contend the well's other contents - large appliances and car parts - as well as the years of decomposition caused that damage.

State Sen. Cathleen Galgiani, who urged the FBI take over the recovery effort and employ its world-renowned expertise, said she was guardedly hopeful that more victims will soon be returned to their families, bringing some relief.

Galgiani has personally corresponded with Shermantine, met him many times, and believes he has genuine information to share. She won passage of a law that allowed the FBI to take Shermantine off of death row to point to the burial places, which happened in August.

Galgiani fears now that the FBI may find nothing in this new well and dismiss further excavations of other wells and burial places around Linden and beyond.

"I'm going to be watching for that," she said.

Jeff Rinek, a retired FBI agent and the loudest critic of how Sheriff Moore handled the first well, said he was encouraged by the FBI taking command. He also feared that agents may not conduct an exhaustive search that would serve to allay the torture families of suspected Shermantine-Herzog victims feel.

"I just care that these victims' families get a level of closure so they can get on with their lives," he said. "That's what they pay their taxes for."

As Brown led the news conference in Sacramento, his work crew was seen pulling in heavy equipment and trailers to set up for a long search. They're expected to work during the daylight hours depending on the weather and soil conditions.

Part of the tedious and deliberate process is to ensure the safety of the workers who will number in the dozens. In addition to the FBI's evidence response team, the San Joaquin County investigators and forensic anthropologists from California State University, Chico, are on site, Brown said.

The remains of victims - if any are recovered - will be sent to an FBI laboratory at Quantico, Va. Relatives who believe a loved one fell victim to Shermantine and Herzog should contact their local law enforcement agency, Brown said.

Brown declined to say how much the excavation would cost, but that bill will be shared by San Joaquin County.

This fieldwork is the culmination of months of investigation by FBI agents, who have also interviewed Shermantine. Brown declined to lay out all of the investigative techniques, but he said Shermantine was not their sole source leading them to this well.

"If you rely on the statements of a convicted killer only, that is a perilous path," Brown said. "We want everyone to know that we are doing everything we can."